pastor

plural pastors · alternative obsolete pastour

1. archaicSomeone who tends to a flock of animals: synonym of shepherd.
2. Someone with spiritual authority over a group of people.
   1. countableChristianityA minister or priest in a church.

      Synonyms: shepherd, elder, pastor-teacher

   2. UScountableCatholicismThe main priest serving a parish.

      The pastor told CNN on Tuesday that no members of his megachurch have contracted the virus. MacArthur also said he doubted the accuracy of California’s coronavirus numbers. […] Most of the pastors who have bucked the rules are fringe figures in American Christianity.

      2020 August 12, Daniel Burke, “California church defies public health orders, holds indoor services for thousands with no social distancing”, in CNN

      Synonyms: shepherd, parish priest

3. A bird, the rosy starling.

   Agricultural officers have put it on record that the pastor must on balance be considered beneficial on account of the vast quantities of locusts which it destroys.

   1944, Country Life, volume 95, page 820

present singular third person pastors · participle present pastoring · participle past pastored · past pastored · alternative obsolete pastour

1. ambitransitivestativeChristianityTo serve a congregation as pastor.

   As they pastored churches in Georgia and Texas, they supported talented black politicians who were unable to win statewide office.

   2009 January 21, Shaila Dewan, “Epic Campaign Divided Family, Then United It”, in New York Times

1. A surname originating as an occupation.

   “A joyride gone terribly wrong,” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said during a news conference in Steilacoom, which is about 3 miles from the island.

   2018 August 10, Paige Cornwell, Agueda Pacheco-Flores, “Airplane taken from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has crashed”, in The Seattle Times, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2018